No abstract

No abstract

The, entrepreneurial characteristics marketing strategies, poultry drugs distribution methods and constraints were studied among 110 poultry enterprises in Imo State, Nigeria. Ten types of poultry businesses were identified with commercial feeds retailing, egg and broiler productions being the most frequently practiced (18.1, 15.3 and 15.2% respectively). Guinea and Top feed brands were the most popular commercial poultry feeds, with each rating 28.1 and 23.4% respectively. Thirtyfive(55.6%) of poultry farmers use commercial poultry feeds in feeding their flocks. Small-scale commercial poultry farms (40.4%) were more as against middle and large scale units that averaged 30.8 and 28.9% respectively. 82.9% of the poultry farmers sell their products unprocessed either by retails and wholesales (41.9%), or by retail only (20.9%). Twenty-three (79.3%) of poultry drugs sellers in the state are not qualified to sell such drugs, while a higher percentage of the farmers consult veterinary doctors before administering drugs. Antibiotics (23.9%), coccidiostats (23.1%), vitamins (17.4%) and vaccines (14.1%) were the most frequently sold poultry medicinal products. Practitioners identified high cost of livestock inputs (31.3%), lack of adequate finance (26.6%) and disease (17.2%) as major constraints to their business. Researching for cheaper sources of raw materials (30.8%), visiting farms for advice (23.1%) and producing animals with higher feed efficiency by animal production scientists and financial support in forms of soft loans, credits and subsidies from government (58.33%), were listed as the highest expectations of the practitioners.

No abstract

Raw Mucuna pruriens seed meal contains-*ῌ-,ῌ crude protein, but also contains toxic substances, which limit its use as a feed ingredient for non-ruminant animals. Results on the use of M. pruriens seed in poultry nutrition have shown that heat treatment alone could only improve the nutritive value of Mucuna bean to the extent of +*ῌ dietary level for broilers. A ,2-day feeding trial was conducted to determine the performance of broiler chickens fed diets containing cracked, soaked and cooked velvet bean seed meal. The seeds were cracked, soaked in water and cooked before drying and milling. The processed meal contained ,2.0.ῌ crude protein, 0.1/ῌ crude fibre, 0.**ῌ ether extract and ,.,*ῌ ash. The cracked, soaked and cooked meal (CSCM) was included in a broiler chicken starter diet at *,,*,,/ and-*ῌ respectively. None of the three dietary levels of the seed meal significantly (P῍*.*/) a#ected the performance of the birds in terms of feed intake and growth rate. Birds fed-*ῌ CSCM had the lowest growth rate and grew to 2- .-ῌ of the control. At-*ῌ dietary level, the feed conversion ratio was significantly (Pῌ*.*/) decreased relative to the control. We conclude that cracking Mucuna seed prior to soaking in water and cooking, partially destroys its growth inhibiting factor(s), allowing successful use of up to ,/ῌ CSCM in broiler starter rations. Higher levels of CSCM reduced broiler performance although the results were much better than those of processed Mucuna bean in literature.